Written Answers Thursday 5 July 2007

Scottish Executive

Asthma

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering offering free prescriptions in respect of the treatment of chronic conditions such as asthma.

Shona Robison: Yes. I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-694 on 15 June 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Communities

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that, according to the FSB Scotland Index of Success 2007, access to good quality food and sports facilities in deprived areas is necessary for Scotland to move to a higher place on the index.

Shona Robison: The FSB Scotland Index of Success 2007 includes life expectancy which is informed by a range of health improvement measures.

  Access to healthier food at affordable prices for those living in deprived areas is a priority for the Scottish Government. Programmes such as Community Food and Health (Scotland) and the Scottish Grocers Federation Healthyliving Programme are making a real difference as will action to nurture children in their early years through trialling free school meals for all primary one to primary three children in selected schools.

  The Scottish Government supports a wide range of initiatives to deliver the goals of the national Physical Activity Strategy and increase the percentage of the population meeting recommended levels of activity. These include "Girls on the Move" which provides training towards national qualifications in physical activity leadership for young women with no formal qualifications or employment, and "Paths to Health" which develops local community based walking schemes, over two thirds of which are located in deprived areas.

Firearms

Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UK Government in relation to the regulation of airguns since the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 came into force.

Kenny MacAskill: Firearms law and air guns, including the provisions in the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, have been the subject of regular discussions between officials. We are keeping the matter under close review and shall be holding detailed discussions with UK ministers on this matter in due course.

Health

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to develop and implement national standards for chronic lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and sleep apnoea.

Shona Robison: A number of steps have been taken to develop and implement national standards on chronic lung disease. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS), Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the Department for Health in England and the British Thoracic Society have all published or are reviewing guidance on these conditions.

  NHS boards in Scotland should take account of this information when developing services for chronic lung disease and associated conditions.

  Specific initiatives include:

  NHS QIS published standards on asthma care for children in March 2007, and plans to undertake a series of review visits to assess NHS board’s performance against these standards. This review will commence in October 2007 and run until May 2008. In 2005 the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), in association with the British Thoracic Society, published the British Guideline on the Management of Asthma.

  In June 2003 SIGN also published Guideline 73, the Management of Sleep Apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome in Adults. We expect NHS boards to develop services in line with standards and guidance from NHS QIS and SIGN.

  The British Thoracic Society published Guidance on the Management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) in 1997 and The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published Clinical Guideline 12 in February 2004 on COPD.

  The Department for Health in England is developing a National Framework to address (COPD). NHS QIS is working alongside them on this, and will review the work and consider how it may be applied in Scotland.

Health

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what resources are available to assist people with lung disease to have a choice of high-quality palliative and end-of-life care.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Government believes that palliative care should be available to anyone suffering from any life threatening illness from the time of diagnosis onwards and expects NHS boards to ensure people’s needs are met through a range of services including hospice care. The Gold Standards Framework (Scotland) is being used by GP practices throughout Scotland to improve the care of individuals requiring palliative care in the community. In addition, the Scottish Government continues to provide support for the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care and to promote the role of Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs) in palliative care. These provide a co-ordinated approach involving the NHS, patient groups, social work, voluntary organisations and other key partners. Together all of these measures contribute to high standards of palliative care for all patients who require it.

Health

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what resources have been made available to local health and social services to help provide high-quality community support for people with lung disease to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions and maximise their independence in all areas of life.

Shona Robison: Scotland has adopted a generic approach to the management of long-term conditions, such as lung disease. The aim is to support people to live with long-term conditions by providing services which are fully responsive to people’s needs, delivered as close to home as possible, as early as feasible in the course of the disease and which are properly integrated across health and local authority services. The Community Health Partnerships have a key role in providing care which is fully integrated across health and NHS boards’ local planning partners.

  The SPARRA (Scottish Patients at Risk of Re-admission and Admission) risk prediction tool, developed by ISD, is being used by NHS boards to identify those who are at highest risk of unscheduled admission to hospital. It shows COPD as the condition which makes the most significant contribution to unscheduled hospital admissions. A Scottish approach to integrated case management is being developed so that the people identified by SPARRA can be supported to maintain their independence at home.

  GPs are incentivised, through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), to undertake regular checks and maximise the effectiveness of medication and other forms of treatment, reducing the adverse symptoms from the condition and improving quality of life. This includes immunisation against influenza and pneumococcal disease, which can cause conditions to deteriorate, precipitating a crisis, and lifestyle interventions such as smoking cessation. COPD and asthma also feature as clinical domains in the QOF.

Health

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to raise awareness of coeliac disease among NHS primary care staff.

Shona Robison: In May 2006 the Primary Care Society for Gastroenterology produced an updated version of its guideline on the management of adults with coeliac disease in primary care. This covers recent developments in the areas of the epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis and management of the disease, and I commend it to all members of the primary care team.

  NHS24 includes a detailed entry on the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Health

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what efforts it will make to raise public awareness of coeliac disease.

Shona Robison: I commend the work of voluntary organisations such as Coeliac UK, who have an important role to play in raising public awareness of the condition, through events such as Coeliac Awareness Week.

Health

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to expedite diagnosis of coeliac disease.

Shona Robison: Early diagnosis is essential, to ensure the condition can be managed and to avoid serious complications.

  Once coeliac disease is suspected, the person’s GP can arrange for a blood test to be carried out, but definitive diagnosis depends on a biopsy of the small intestine, carried out through endoscopy by a gastroenterologist.

  We are exploring with the National Screening Committee the possibility of population screening for coeliac disease.

Health

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what support and advice it will provide to help people with coeliac disease to maintain a gluten-free diet.

Shona Robison: Once a diagnosis of coeliac disease has been confirmed, the only treatment is strict avoidance of gluten in the diet. This will be made very clear by the person’s GP, specialists and any other health care professionals involved.

  The British National Formulary, which is made available to all GPs, includes information about the appropriate prescribing of gluten free products.

  Initiatives regarding food labelling help people to access the right diet to suit their needs. Breast feeding can help prevent the development of the condition for some years.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that psychiatric senior house officers are offered funded training posts in order to meet the need for more psychiatrists.

Nicola Sturgeon: As part of Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) implementation, with effect from August 2007, the number of specialty training posts will increase from 125 to 279. This will in turn increase the number of consultant psychiatrists available to NHSScotland.

  Current workforce plans indicate these training numbers are sufficient to meet the demand of NHSScotland. However, as part of the workforce planning process, training numbers will be reviewed annually.

Inter-Governmental Links

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet discussed the memorandum of understanding between the UK and Libyan governments at its meeting on Tuesday 5 June 2007 and whether the Lord Advocate or the Solicitor General was present at that meeting.

Kenny MacAskill: By long standing convention, recognised in the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, governments do not disclose information on the deliberations of their Cabinet, nor who attended particular Cabinet meetings. I refer, however, to the terms of the First Minister’s statement to Parliament of 7 June (col. 586 of the Official Report ).

Justice

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-25808 by Cathy Jamieson on 23 May 2006, what plans it now has to introduce a convention to prevent the Special Branch carrying out electronic surveillance of MSPs and whether it will hold discussions with the UK Government and the security services on extending the Wilson Doctrine to cover MSPs in a similar way to MPs.

Kenny MacAskill: Scottish ministers have no role in authorising general covert surveillance. They do have the specific power to authorise interception of communications for the purpose of the prevention or detection of serious crime. Authorisation of interception warrants for matters of national security and for the purpose of safeguarding the economic wellbeing of the United Kingdom remains the responsibility of UK Secretaries of State.

  The Scottish Government has no plans to seek to extend the Wilson Doctrine to cover MSPs, nor to introduce a convention to prevent police Special Branches carrying out covert surveillance in circumstances which meet the strict tests of necessity and proportionality required by law.

Legislation

John Lamont (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce legislation similar to that in England and Wales to address the issue of overgrown hedges, trees and other vegetation.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Executive has no current plans to introduce such legislation.

NHS Staff

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what vacancies exist for consultants at Monklands Hospital.

Nicola Sturgeon: NHS Lanarkshire has provided the following information on consultant vacancies at Monklands Hospital, broken down as follows:

  

Department/Area
Number of Vacancies


Accident and Emergency
1


Respiratory
1


Cardiology
1


ENT 
1*


Orthopaedics
2


Radiology
2


Total 
8



  Note: *This is an NHS Lanarkshire wide service based at Monklands.

Older People

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any concerns about the quality of or the level of funding for older people services in Argyll and Bute.

Shona Robison: It is up to each local authority to decide how it uses its resources based on its own assessment of local needs and priorities. The Social Work Inspection Agency will publish a report on social work services in Argyll and Bute in the autumn. That report will cover older people’s services. I expect the council to act on any recommendations that the agency may make.

Rendition Flights

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how it responds to allegations that Scottish airports have been used for rendition flights and what action it intends to take to prevent their future use for such flights.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Executive treats these allegations very seriously and has stated its opposition to rendition flights. Civil Aviation is a reserved matter and so is the responsibility of the UK Government but attempts to commit or to conspire to commit torture are crimes under Scots law and it is for the police to investigate allegations of such offences and for the procurator fiscal to decide whether to bring proceedings. However, the appropriate authorities can only act on the basis of evidence. To this end, I have invited civil liberties organisations to present me with any evidence they may have about Scottish airports being used for extraordinary rendition flights. If such evidence is there it will be considered by the appropriate authorities.

Sport

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding sportscotland has provided to (a) Dundee City, (b) Angus and (c) Aberdeenshire councils in each of the last three years.

Nicola Sturgeon: In each of the last three years sportscotland has provided funding to (a) Dundee City, (b) Angus and (c) Aberdeenshire councils as follows:

  

 
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07


Dundee
£542,357
£530,936
£1,230,393


Angus
£276,507
£617,209
£329,097


Aberdeenshire
£358,474
£579,253
£675,830